C9 Symposium - Mirabilis Expansa an Ancient Andean Crop Rescued.

Introducing new crops to new locations has historical importance in agriculture. Ancient Andean root and forage crop Mirabilis expansa (Ruiz and Pav.) Standl. (Nyctaginaceae), cultivated varieties 'L' and 'T’, were grown in the first North American field trial which took place in southern Illinois.  This rare, endangered, and drought resistant crop, was primarily limited in growth by drainage.  An initial null hypothesis was that there would be no survival in southern Illinois weather conditions, which normally alternate extended periods of flooding with drought.  Survival and relative growth was tested with three kinds of constructed sand plots amended with varying amounts of fertilizer at the time of their construction, plus all-sand controls, from 2008-2010.  2008 and 2009 were among the wettest years recorded for southern Illinois.  The plots continue to exhibit obvious variation in weed species components, particularly between all-sand control plots, and those to which the most nitrogen was added initially, in the form of five percent steer manure with 95% sand, more than ten years after they were constructed.  Experiments in native southern Illinois soils in 2007, and in the sand plots with very little weeding in 2010, are also discussed, along with experiments, involving both varieties paired in plots in 2009.  Growth data for multiple characters from experiments with var. ‘L’ from 2008 and 2009, and interactions with time, were tested separately for each year in Repeated Measures ANOVAs in SAS.  The results are presented in ANOVA tables.  Significant results, and additional trends appearing in graphs of the data, are discussed.  Harvest data is also given in tables and discussed for a subset of plants from the sand plots, which were later submitted for initial nutrition and safety testing.  Most individual plants were left to winter over in the field in both 2008 and 2009, as they are often grown for 12-24 months in their home range and appear adapted to the Oregon climate